(Clearwisdom.net) For some reason, I became less diligent in my cultivation at one point, even though I had done the three things routinely for a long time. I only improved for a few days after studying the Fa or sharing experiences with fellow practitioners. I didn't get up early enough for morning exercises, and if I did, I often did not complete all five of them. I didn't actively and persistently clarify the truth, and I couldn't even study the Fa calmly.
Knowing it was wrong to indulge in comfort, I tried to correct my mentality, but this only worked for a little while. When I regretted my failures and looked inward, Master used various means to enlighten me and help me find the causes of my issues. I once dreamed that I had messy long hair and needed a haircut, and I enlightened that I didn't study the Fa well, and my priorities were wrong. I was only focused on the superficial manifestations. I became aware of how the pursuit of comfort had crept into me.
Externally I felt more relaxed as the Fa-rectification process progressed, and wanted to relieve my internal stress. My failure to correct this mentality led to the growth of my attachment to comfort. As a result, I missed early group exercises and group Fa study sessions. Inattentive, I failed to clarify the truth. Consequently, my ordinary person's attachments started to rise.
I hardly watched TV before, but I became attached to it due to my lack of diligence on the cultivation path. Because of my attachments, I couldn't concentrate while studying the Fa and was absent-minded when sending forth righteous thoughts. I finally awoke after reading Master's lecture given in New York in 2010.
Master said,
"Whatever enters a person's mind stays there. Human beings have memory. While we call it 'memory,' and it sounds like something conceptual, it is in fact something really, truly material. When people say things, or when someone explains something to you, or tries to convince you of something, 'yap, yap, yap'--a steady stream [of things] pours into your head. Real substances are actually being hurled toward you." ("Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference")
Although I understood that my failure to improve in cultivation was due to my pursuit of comfort, I was unable to completely eliminate this attachment, depending upon the status of my righteous thoughts. I struggled between success and failure until I read Master's new lecture, where I learned why I was not able to remove my attachment to comfort.
Master said,
"What I least like are those who are all talk and no action. Nor do I like those who are cunning. What I like are those who are honest and simple, sincere and down-to-earth. I also hope that you can all, after so many years of cultivating, positively grow in wisdom and not grow so much in terms of knowing how to deal with worldly matters or how to conduct yourself as a human being leading a worldly life." ("Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference")
Master really hit the nail right on the head! With my attachment to comfort, I hadn't steadily carried out my duties in Dafa projects. I often spoke out quite a bit during group Fa-study, but I didn't do much afterward.
My poor cultivation level also affected the improvement of other practitioners. I didn't take the matter seriously. I mistakenly thought it was their own business, until I learned from Master's Fa lecture. After identifying the causes of my lack of improvement, I became determined to be a simple, sincere, and down-to-earth Dafa disciple. I negated my attachment to comfort, and recognized that it wasn't my true self, but rather an evil old force attempting to destroy my will to solidly cultivate. I instantly recovered my righteous thoughts.
I wrote this article with the hope that fellow practitioners who are also afflicted with the attachment to comfort can eliminate its interference, step forward with dignity, and do the things a Dafa practitioner should do.
